Labels, particularly those for addressing and shipping, are applied to materials that are frequently reused. A shipping container, box or envelope that arrives in a facility can be reused to send materials or documents to another facility by applying a newly addressed label over the existing address or addressing label on the container. It is highly desired that the previous addressing information is not visible through the newly applied address label, especially in automated handling systems where the previous information could interfere with routing of the container, box or envelope. Furthermore, simply increasing the thickness of the label to completely hide underlying indicia can result in difficulties printing through printers or difficulties in automated handling systems.
Current labels that are used to hide underlying indicia use a color coating on the back side of the label between the facestock material and the adhesive. In particular, very dark or black coatings are used to effectively block out the underlying indicia. While the resulting label may effectively block out the underlying indicia, the dark coatings cause the facestock to appear gray, dingy and unprofessional during use. This is especially the case when the label is being used on a white business envelope where a professional appearance, even when reusing an envelope, is important.
There currently exists a need for a white mailing label that is effective at blocking out underlying indicia while matching the white appearance of an envelope to which it is attached.